Welcome to the APLIS blog.This site will be providing daily updates for the rest of March on the
progress of a US Navy ice camp in the Arctic Ocean.In a way, these will be our postcards from our adventure in the
great white north.

But first, some basics.

Why are we here?We’re establishing an ice camp with a tracking range so we can support
testing and other operations by two submarines - one from the US Navy and the
other from Great Britain’s Royal Navy - both of which will be joining us in a
couple days.The overall goal of this
testing is to improve our understanding of submarine under-ice operations and
to make these operations safer & more efficient.I’ll be discussing several of the tests as we accomplish them.

After we are done with the camp and the submarines depart, the
Navy contingent will also depart and we’ll turn the camp over to the National
Science Foundation (NSF) to use for scientific research as part of the
International Polar Year (IPY).NSF
will pay the daily costs to maintain the camp for the scientists then, about
mid-April, the camp will be disestablished.The scientists will undoubtedly have a similar site to report their
progress while at the camp - I’ll try to provide that before we leave here.

Where are we?We
are on a drifting ice floe about 180 nautical miles (nm) off the north coast of
Alaska.We’re dependent on airplane
flights out of Prudhoe Bay/Deadhorse, Alaska to ferry supplies and people to
and from the camp.It’s important that
we maintain this lifeline for the next few weeks.We selected a site northeast of Prudhoe Bay so that the generally
westward drift of the ice in this part of the Arctic Ocean will keep the camp
within aircraft range - we expect to finish up northwest of Prudhoe Bay.

Location of Ice Camp APLIS-2007

Who are we?APLIS is
first and foremost a team effort.The
camp is being manned largely by military and civilian personnel from both the
US and Royal Navies, though there are other groups playing key roles in the
camp and the test program.Besides the
crews of the two submarines, we will have people here and on the boats from the
following organizations; I’ll try to mention as many of them as possible in
future entries.

Applied
Physics Laboratory, University of WashingtonSeattle,
WA

Arctic
Submarine LaboratorySan
Diego, CA

Cambridge
UniversityCambridge,
England

Maritime
Warfare CentrePortsmouth, England

Defence
Science & Technology LaboratoryWinfrith,
England

Naval
Postgraduate SchoolMonterrey,
CA

Naval
Undersea Warfare CenterNewport,
RI

Submarine
Development Squadron FiveBangor,
WA

Submarine
Development Squadron TwelveGroton,
CT

Submarine
Force, U.S. Atlantic FleetNorfolk,
VA

Submarine
Force, U.S. Pacific FleetPearl
Harbor, HI

Submarine
Squadron ElevenSan
Diego, CA

Woods
Hole Oceanographic InstitutionWoods
Hole, MA

In addition, we’ll have several visitors from a host of
other military commands, news outlets, media groups, etc.Although the permanent camp staff is only
about 30 people, we expect to have almost 100 others pass through to work or
visit.

What is an APLIS?The Applied Physics Laboratory of the University of Washington built and
is managing the ice camp for us.They
have done this for most major Navy ice camps dating back to the 1960s.So APLIS stands for “Applied Physics
Laboratory Ice Station”.A few camps
ago, they held a contest to see who could come up with the best alternative
meaning for that acronym.The winner
was “Abnormal People Living In Sheds”.

APLIS from the Air

Through these APLIS Postcards, you’ll be able to judge the
accuracy of this alternate interpretation for yourself over the next couple
weeks as I cover the daily events.Along the way, I’ll also try to cover other, big picture topics,
including:

-What
is it like to live on a chunk of frozen ocean (besides being REALLY COLD).

-How
an ice camp is set up to keep the people here safe and (relatively) happy.

-Some
of the challenges of operating a submarine under the ice and what we’re doing
-including this year’s testing - to overcome those challenges.

-How
to organize a test range in the middle of nowhere.

-The
neighbors (the big furry ones), if we encounter any.

Time to mail this one off.Tomorrow, I’ll talk about how APLIS came to be.